Iran

Written by Fred Petrossian | – ( Globalvoices.org) – Hundreds of Iranians took to the streets in Abadan, the capital of the southwestern oil-rich province of Khuzestan, demanding justice after a 10-storey Metropol building collapsed on May 23, killing at least 29 people. Officials said 37 people were also wounded and it remains unknown how […]

Iran

Iran: The Killing Of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Could Complicate Rapprochement With the West

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Hannah Kaviani | – ( RFE/RL ) – I’m Hannah Kaviani, a senior broadcaster and editor at RFE/RL’s Radio Farda, filling in this week for senior correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following and what I’m watching out for in the days ahead. The Big Issue Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodaei, a shadowy figure […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: Arrests Amid Economic Protests: Attempt to Suppress Growing Social Movements

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities have arrested several prominent activists on baseless accusations amid labor union strikes and ongoing protests against rising prices, since May 6, 2022, in dozens of small towns, Human Rights Watch said today. Those arrested include a prominent sociologist and four labor rights defenders. News outlets close to […]

Iran

The Geopolitics and Diplomacy of US–Iran Relations by Monshipouri – Review

Marc Martorell Junyent

Book Review – Mahmood Monshipouri, In the Shadow of Mistrust: (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Bonn (Special to Informed Comment) – Sixteen months have passed since the inauguration of Joseph Biden as the 46th President of the United States. As of now, negotiations to revive the agreement signed in July 2015 between the members of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Was the Visit to Iran of Syria’s al-Assad impelled by Fear of Russian Failure in Ukraine?

Gilbert Achcar

By Gilbert Achkar | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The President of the Syrian regime, Bashar Al-Assad, paid a surprise visit to Tehran last Sunday and, adding to its surprising nature, is the fact that he had rarely dared to leave his country since the popular uprising against his regime began in 2011. […]

Christianity

Cole Interview: The Qur’an, the Crucifixion and Jews: Rebutting Iranian War Propaganda against Byzantium

Juan Cole

Ziryab Jamal interviewed me on my article: Juan Cole, “‘It was made to appear to them so’: the crucifixion, Jews and Sasanian war propaganda in the Qur’ān,” Religion 51, 3 (2021): 404-422. He kindly permitted me to put up the raw video of the interview with video here: Some of the points in the article […]

Iran

Iran: Labor Protests Surge: Unpaid Wages, Unsafe Work Conditions, Arbitrary Arrests, Prosecutions

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian workers are facing mounting economic and political challenges to realizing their labor rights, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights Activists (HRA), an Iranian human rights documentation group, said today, ahead of International Workers’ Day on May 1, 2022. Over the past four years, amid a deterioration of Iran’s […]

Hungary

Can sanctions ever be just — let alone effective?

H. Patricia Hynes

( Fellowship of Conciliation/ Waging Nonviolence ) – As a result of its brutal invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world, leading one former Obama administration Treasury official to describe the situation as “financial nuclear war.” Western European countries, however, depend on Russian oil and gas, so they have […]

Climate Crisis

Biden needs an Iran Deal: The US cannot Afford to Sanction both Moscow and Tehran without Risking $300 a barrel Oil

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United States cannot afford to impose severe economic sanctions and boycotts on Russia and on Iran at the same time. That way lies $300 a barrel oil, global economic retraction, and likely a Democratic Party bloodbath in the midterms as voters protest their anguish at the pump. There is […]